Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken

This recipe could not be easier. There are only 4 ingredients and you simply layer three of them in your slow cooker in the morning, go to work, come home, shred the meat, wait a little longer and then voila: your main course is ready! If the thought of turning on your oven in the summer has you placing a regular daily order at your local pizza joint, this may be the perfect solution. This recipe makes a lot of chicken, but it’s so versatile that you can use it to make tons of different meals. I photographed the chicken served on a roll as a sandwich but you could also use it to make quesadillas, top baked potatoes, add protein to mac & cheese, pile on a pizza, fill lettuce wraps (a low carb option!), etc. The possibilities are endless! *Update: I also mixed some of my leftovers with a little bit of light blue cheese dressing, microwaved it and ate it as a dip with baked tortilla chips and veggies. It was awesome!

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you may be looking at these ingredients in shock. I’m a Buffalo girl, and as I’ve said before, we do not serve Buffalo chicken with ranch dressing here. It is simply not done. Blue cheese or go home. My loyalty to this unwritten rule prevented me from making this recipe for months, but I kept seeing it all over Pinterest and I admit I was intrigued. Finally a few weeks ago I had dinner at my mom’s house and wouldn’t you know, she made this recipe. It was delicious. I immediately felt torn between my taste buds (which were jumping for joy) and all that I know to be true (Buffalo Chicken + Ranch = NO). I’ve decided to rationalize my enjoyment of this recipe by pointing out that dry ranch seasoning is really not the same as ranch dressing. Plus, the overall flavor of the dish does not taste like ranch dressing. The packet is basically just mix of seasonings that adds to the yummy profile of flavors in the dish but does not taint the chicken like ranch dressing would. Right? I did drizzle some blue cheese dressing over the top on my sandwich for good measure and it was perfect. Hopefully I don’t get run out of town for this…

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken

Ingredients:

3 lbs raw boneless skinless chicken breasts (the original recipe used frozen breasts, but I used them unfrozen, so it appears you can do either)

12 oz bottle of Buffalo wing sauce (I used Frank's Wing Sauce)

1 oz packet of dry Ranch mix (I used Hidden Valley)

2 tablespoons light butter

Directions:

Place the chicken breasts in your slow cooker. Pour the bottle of wing sauce over the top of the chicken. Sprinkle the packet of ranch mix over the top of the wing sauce. Place the lid on your slow cooker. Cook on low for 7-9 hours until meat shreds easily.

Remove meat and shred it using two forks. Return shredded meat to the sauce and add the butter. Stir to combine. Continue to cook on low for another hour so the meat can soak up the sauce. Serve however you like!

Weight Watchers Points Plus:3 per serving(P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)

I made this with one packet of ranch 2x chicken and sauce (Franks wing) and it turned out uber salty and I love salt. Had to rewarm with a potato (to suck up some of the salt) and added vinegar and it was much better

Anonymous replied: — November 29th, 2012 @ 3:36 am

Did you use the packets of ranch DIP mix or ranch DRESSING mix? From previous experience with different recipes, the dip mix is much saltier than the dressing mix. I always use the dressing mix. Hope this helps.

I make a version of this but I use the laughing cow bleu cheese wedges instead of ranch mix (also because there is SO much MSG in that mix…) and sometimes also add reduced fat bleu cheese crumbles after it’s done I also leave out the butter myself.

Lisa M. replied: — January 21st, 2013 @ 5:01 am

I’m a fellow Buffalonian and agree with you, Ranch and Buffalo anything is just WRONG! Gotta be blue cheese! I’m always looking for easy Crock-Pot recipes. I can’t wait to try this!

Joanne replied: — April 17th, 2013 @ 3:49 pm

This sounds great! Love trying new crock pot recipes. Makes getting home from work and prepping dinner for the family less stressful! Completely agree with the Ranch and Buffalo comment. I hate going out of town and seeing Buffalo chicken on the menu and seeing it served with Ranch instead of Bleu Cheese.

So good… just made this tonight! Any other suggestions I can do with this? I have a lot left over since I live alone…. I had it in lettuce wraps tonight, going to make a spicy version of a taco salad tomorrow night… Besides putting it on a bun like pictured, any other ideas?

I see the recipe calls for a 1oz packet of ranch….is that supposed to be a 16oz packet?

Anonymous replied: — July 24th, 2012 @ 10:18 pm

Never mind. I looked at the packet again and I see that it says it MAKES 16 fl oz and that the net weight is .4 oz. Thank you. In the process of making this right now. I forgot to start it this morning though because I was running late to work so I am going to try cooking it for 4-5 hours on high versus the 8 on low. Fingers crossed

Made this tonight using Louisiana buffalo wing sauce but it was way tooooooo spicy to even eat! Perhaps the Louisiana is hotter than Franks? My husband loves super spicy food and even he resorted to peanut butter sandwiches instead. Such a shame as I was really looking forward to this.

I make Wing Sauce (usually don’t buy it, but I did for this recipe!) using regular Hot Sauce by putting it in a ramekin, putting a slice of butter in it and pouring some sauce on it, then I microwave it for maybe 15 seconds, and repeat to taste.

Long Story Short – Try adding butter to your too spicy meat, reheat it (or melt the butter beforehand) and it should cut down the heat.

Looking forward to trying this over the weekend. I am a complete spice weenie so am thinking buffalo sauce will be too spicy, so I was thinking of trying a sweet smokey bbq type of sauce. Does that sound horrible with the ranch mix to you?

Jennifer replied: — July 30th, 2012 @ 3:11 pm

Applesass- my sis in law halved the recipe as it is only her and my brother. Instead of 6 oz of sauce, she did 4 oz chicken stock and 2 oz of sauce mixed together and then poured it over. There was some kick but not as much. (my brother added additional sauce to his sandwiches as he likes spicy!) You can start with 5 oz to 1 oz and see how that goes.

I was super excited to try this (and did today), but my husband and I found that it wasn’t too spicy but had a sour bite that was overwhelming. I was looking forward to leftovers, too, but ended up tossing it :(. Also, way too spicy for our 21 month old. I’ll have to check out your other slow cooker recipes for next time instead. (i used three chicken breast, the packet of ranch and franks buffalo wing sauce)

Three chicken breasts? I think you may have misread the recipe – it’s supposed to be three pounds of chicken breasts! If you only made it with three breasts then I’m sure the sauce WAS overwhelming! Oops.

I found mine to be really salty, looking at the recipe I used the whole pack of ranch dressing, but did not check to see if a whole pack is 1oz or not, I was figuring it was the franks that made it overly salty, will make again but maybe try a different wing sauce and skip out on the ranch all together, not sure what caused the saltiness.

I thought it was fantastic! Mine wasn’t too salty or too spicy.. Just right! I do have a really high spicy tolerance though. I can’t wait to make this again, I see this becoming one of my staple recipes. There are so many things you can do with it!

I made this and it was delicious! My store didnt have Franks wing sauce……which sucks, but I used Texas Pete wing sauce. I may even try the franks thick sauce hot sauce next time (and there will be a next time):) …..do u think that will work? I just love the salty taste of franks.

Made this today and it was fantastic! DH bought the store brand sauce (non-mild) so I cut it w/ chicken broth so my kids would eat it since they don’t like really spicy foods. Can’t wait to play w/ the left overs. I think it’ll be a keeper.

just tried this today. It was amazing…Put it in the crockpot and let it cook over nite. shredded this morning. had for lunch in a fat free tortilla with reduced fat cheese as a quesadilla. i can only say….amazing. this recipe is a keeper. thank you for posting such wonderful recipes.

super fantastic recipe. loved it. put it on to cook all nite and shredded it this morning. for lunch I used it in a fat free flour tortilla with reduced fat cheese to make a buffalo chicken quesadillo. I can only say…..amazing. thanks for posting this fabulous recipe.

I make pulled pork in the slow cooker and we never get it anywhere else. I’ll admit, the ranch dressing is throwing me because I’m a die-hard blue cheese with buffalo gal.That said however, I love new things and this looks delicious.My husband and one of my daughters will only eat ranch with buffalo so I’mgoing to try this in the next few days (looking forward to it Thanks!

Made this yesterday and we had it for dinner last night.It was wonderful, just the right kick!One of my kids used a tortilla and shredded jack cheese and the rest of us had it on hamburger buns with a side of sweet corn. (I used blue cheese dressing on mine too Great addition to our limited menu. Seems when two people like one thing, the other two don’t, but this was a hit with all so that was a bonus.

*(I had said in my comment above this follow-up that we never get pulled pork anywhere else now but my husband pointed out that we do get pulled pork from a local bbq place on the very rare occasions that family visits from out of town… I stand corrected Thanks again!

I made this for dinner last night. Unfortunately, I was too tired to eat, so I just put it away, packed a serving for lunch, and went to bed at 7pm (my life is super exciting). I was looking forward to trying for lunch today, so my expectations were high, and it totally lived up to them. It was the best lunch I’ve had in a very long time. I expected it to be tasty, but it was really, really, really tasty. Buffalo anything is my kryptonite, and this hit the spot perfectly. I’m glad I used extra hot sauce- otherwise I’m sure I’d be driving home to eat it with a spoon out of the container right now. Will definitely make it again, both with the extra hot sauce for DH and me, and with milder sauce for entertaining.

This is so great, INCREDIBLY easy, it has already become a go-to-recipe. I actually threw this together yesterday for an impromptu gathering – cooked it on High, and it was done in 3-4 hours – love that a crock pot recipe doesn’t have to take hours and hours to cook. I add more sauce than the recipe calls for, and less ranch mix (I thought it was too salty). This is so good on regular buns, or whole wheat thin buns, or even as a dip with crackers. I think I will have a 3-pound-bag-of-chicken in my freezer at all times! This is the BEST ever – thank you!!!!!!!

I have tried about 10 of your recipes since finding your site about 3 weeks ago. Every single one of them have been perfect. This was the first one I tried and my family loved it. I froze some of the meat and used it later in a “cupcake” with a litle blue cheese. Thanks for all of the recipes!

I am so happy I found this blog! I’m trying this recipe tomorrow to kick off football season ( my husband is a Bills fan!). We love all things buffalo flavored, but my husband is so picky. I’m talking no condiments, no spices, no vegetables or fruits with certain textures, etc. You have no idea the relief I had when I saw that this contained only 4 ingredients. Thank you so much!

I live in Chicago but am originally from Binghamton. I’m going to make this to have while we watch the Bills/Jets on NFL Sunday Ticket. I’ll follow your lead and have a little bleu cheese dressing on top. Can’t wait! Let’s go, Buffalo!

I tried this recipe of yours tonight and it was so good! I wanted to thank you for writing and sharing your low calorie recipes with us all. It is greatly appreciated. (: And I am so happy I found this blog!

Made this tonight. Cooked on high for about five hours. The chicken shredded itself when I stirred it. Toasted a wheat bun, drizzled a little ranch on top and added pepperjack shredded cheese. Yum!! Thank you

Since there was no salt added to the recipe, I would suggest that you check your wing sauce before adding it (also, I don’t know if there’s a lower sodium ranch dressing packet out there). One old standby I’ve found to work is if you have a pot of anything and you taste and find it too salty – add a half of a peeled potato. The potato will soak up salt.

Love this recipe! It’s so simple to make and my husband liked it with some blue cheese crumbles thrown on top. We’re going to try leftovers wrapped in a tortilla with some cheese. Thanks for sharing all your great recipes.

Made this for the first time Saturday(11/3/12)! Terrific! I used Jim Beam Wing Sauce (isn’t as hot) and didn’t need to add the butter. That saved a few grams of fat and didn’t detract anything (I don’t think) from the taste. KEEPER(and I’m recommending to lots of friends to check this blog!)

Wow, this came out extra spicy – which I actually like. Sent my husband to the store for the ingredients and he came through on the Frank’s wing sauce, but the Hidden Valley Ranch, he got the spicy ranch. Whoa! mouth is on fire, but not complaining.

Made this for dinner today and it was wonderful. I did omit the butter. I used Texas Pete buffalo sauce and served on mini Hawaiian sweet rolls with some coleslaw for the kids to cut some of the spice and both my kids loved it! If there are any leftovers I am going to use for spring rolls.

Made this for dinner today and it was wonderful. I did omit the butter. I used Texas Pete buffalo sauce and served on mini Hawaiian sweet rolls with some coleslaw for the kids to cut some of the spice and both my kids loved it! If there are any leftovers I am going to use for spring rolls.

This was my first recipe that I have tried from your website. I like the idea of the chicken in the crockpot and it shredded really nice. I did think it was very very salty and I did not add any salt. I will omit the ranch packet next time.

Anytime you need to shred cooked meat like chicken breasts or a roast…. just toss them in a stand mixer, turn it on low and in a few minutes you’ve got perfectly shredded chicken! No fuss and it’s easy to clean up!

Anytime you need to shred cooked meat like chicken breasts or a roast…. just toss them in a stand mixer, turn it on low and in a few minutes you’ve got perfectly shredded chicken! No fuss and it’s easy to clean up!

I am making this now. All we had was the Frank’s Red Hot, but my fiance loves that sauce for his homemade wings so I figured I’d give it a try for this recipe. I did add a little dark brown sugar to offset the spiciness/kick and I didn’t have the dry packet ranch, just light hidden valley ranch. I put a couple drops of that in there and mixed it all around. Hoping it comes out well!

Soo good! I had it for dinner last night & lunch today! I put it on an 8″ whole wheat tortilla with a light swiss laughing cow cheese wedge & half of an avocado …it mellowed out the spiciness (my grocery store only had 1 kind of buffalo sauce & it definitely has a kick to it) & made it incredible!

Yum! I put this in the crockpot last night – 3.5 hours on high. My grocery store only had Texas Pete Buffalo Sauce, but I’m sure it will be similar. I used a 2lb package of chicken breast and 8oz of sauce (and, of course, about 2/3 the ranch packet). I wish I’d used a bit more sauce – while plenty juicy, mine doesn’t seem to be as saucy as your photo. Other than a little taste test, I haven’t eaten it yet – it’s for dinner tonight! We plan to put it in low-carb tortillas with lettuce and blue cheese crumbles (for me, at least. DH will, embarrassingly, be using ranch). Thanks for the recipe!

This was absolutely amazing. Only thing is is that I didn’t use 3 lbs. of chicken. Only 2 pieces since I’m only feeding myself. And from there I used not half the bottle of franks wing sauce but enough for it to coat, and sit in a good amount in the crock pot. Same with the ranch packet, I didn’t use a whole lot. It all worked out though, and after I shredded the chicken I added some tartar to the leftover sauce to thickin it a little.

Made this tonight, but didn’t get it started until 4 o’clock. I sprayed my cast iron dutch oven with cooking spray, browned the chicken quickly on each side on the stove over medium/high heat. Then added other ingredients, covered with lid and finished cooking in a 325 degree oven for a 2 hours. Next, I removed from oven and placed on stove eye heated to warm while I shredded meat. I shredded the meat directly in the pot. The sauce cooked down quickly and was ready in about 30 minutes. It was fabulous! A big hit with all the family. I served it with sweet potato fries. Thank you, so much.

So good! I made this and day one we had on buns. Day 2 I fried onions in a pan, added the leftover chicken, mixed in canned diced tomatoes with cilantro, green chili’s and rolled them up, topped with enchilada sauced and mex cheese. It made 2 full pans of corn tortilla enchilada’s. Not sure on the points for that but WOW, good good good!

Do you have any idea how to adapt the recipe to use Frank’s Hot Sauce instead of the Wing Sauce? My family loves everything spicy, and we are not too found of Frank’s Wing Sauce. My fear with using the sauce instead of the wing sauce is that it could turn out runny.

I just made this today and I used the Frank’s Hot Sauce instead of the Wing Sauce and I didn’t change anything except I did make sure to use the butter because from what I was told by a waitress once was that the wing sauce just has butter added to the franks hot sauce…It wasn’t runny at all, the chicken soaked up the sauce and it is delicious!! Thanks for the recipe Emily!

For all those wondering, as I did, regular Frank’s Red Hot sauce works great if you can’t find the wing sauce. According to the Frank’s website, the regular hot sauce is actually MILDER than the wings sauce: http://www.franksredhot.com/info/faq. I added a T of apple cider vinegar, and served on buns topped with reduced fat crumbled blue cheese. Delish!

You shouldn’t need the butter if you use a ready made buffalo sauce, but if you use the regular hot sauce (Red Hot if you’re using Frank’s) you do. Simple buffalo sauce is typically just butter and hot sauce. Franks bottled buffalo sauce has butter in it already.

WONDERFUL!!!!! I used Sweet Baby Ray’s marinade/sauce 16oz. bottle, and it came out perfect. Just the right amount of heat(medium) for my family. This is a keeper as my picky husband told me. We also added low fat sharp cheddar cheese ontop of our sandwich. Just fantastic. Thanks so much Emily!! No one ever guessed this was low cal.

Emily, just put this in the crock pot! I was wondering, I have probably 2.5lbs of chicken in there and I only had 8oz of buffalo sauce, do you think it will still turn out ok? Also, is the chicken supposed to be submerged in the sauce? Mine isn’t, it is more like sitting in a puddle of buffalo lol, although the chicken does have sauce and now ranch sprinkles covering it! THanks!

I will definitely be making this very soon! I used your nutritional information to double check how many points using my WW calculator, and using that information it says it is 4 points. Not a big difference but just wanted to share. This recipe sounds yummy! Can’t wait to make it!!

Great Recipe. I only had the Franks hot sauce so I mixed butter with hot sauce (equal amounts – just depends on how hot you like it) and then put chicken in to the pot. I also added about 2 cloves of minced garlic.

I’ve made this several times now and my family loves it! My husband also adds a Laughing Cow low-fat blue cheese wedge, spread on the bun, to our sandwiches! I eat my chicken on a long piece of romain lettuce – it has a nice rib that holds up while you eat. YUM. Thanks!

This was not bad, but extremely salty! I do think it was the ranch dressing mix I used and I will definitely try the recommendation to use 1/2 a packet of ranch next time. I really see the potential in this – the chicken was so tender and I love Frank’s Red Hot. I ended up making a wrap with the chicken and added lots of mixed greens and low-fat blue cheese crumbles.

I’m making this right now. Started it a little late, though. Put it in the slow cooker at 11:45am and used frozen chicken breasts. It’ll be a late dinner! Also, ranch and buffalo go great together. I really don’t like blue cheese. But I’m from California and we put ranch on everything. Ranch and pizza is the best

Good morning. I’m planning to make a batch of this to have on hand for the holiday weekend, but I was wondering if I should use the Hidden Valley Ranch dip or dressing mix. I know from past experience that they’re quite different. Can’t wait to try this, it looks fabulous! Thanks!

This is a fav Go To recipe for us. I’m working hard on losing weight for my health and happiness and love your blog thank you for the help. I use this so many ways but for when u want crunchy bites this is delish served in celery sticks with a lil bleu cheese drizzled on top. (cause ya Im on board with the No Ranch rule)

Instead of using a packet of dry ranch, I added some bleu cheese laughing cow wedges after I shredded the chicken. Depending on how many cheese wedges you use, it will will affect the points plus value, but it is so delicious and not too salty.

I made this and froze it about 4 months ago. I’m just cooking for one so even after eating it all week I ended up freezing over half. I portioned it into snack bags and put them all in a freezer bag. I just defrosted one and added it to some mac and cheese and it’s perfect!

I have made something very similar for a dip…Use one 8oz stick of cream cheese (softened), half a cup of the same buffalo sauce, half a cup of ranch dressing and one can of chicken (drained, and I always shred mine with a fork). I’d double this if you’re having a lot of people.It’s delicious!!! Some call it “crack dip” in our family because it’s so good, you can’t stop eating it!

I’ve just discovered your blog and your rule about Ranch and Buffalo chicken is soo funny! I’m a Long Island girl who has transplanted to Atlanta. They eat pizza here dipped in ranch. My kids believe it’s ok to dip pizza in ranch. It offends me on every level. So I get you. Although, I admit to eating buffalo chicken with ranch pretty often.

In over 47 years of married life, I can count on one hand the meals that were a complete disaster. And this was one of them! It was awful! My husband gave up half-way through the meal and said it just wasn’t worth the calories – and there aren’t too many of those either! Waste of time and good chicken.

This was terrible! My husband wouldn’t eat it – said it wasn’t worth the calories. This is my second negative review of this dish; the first one wasn’t published. No wonder it has so many good reviews!

I do not moderate comments before they are published and I did not delete your previous comment. I actually see it right now. It’s obvious that you must have really wanted to make sure I knew you hated it since you came back to further post about how horrible it is to drive your point home. I’m sorry you didn’t like it, but lots of people do. Your original comment made me feel awful, so I suppose you got what you wanted. Have a great day!

I have made this a dozen or so times my husband and I love it and it is so easy to prepair….I have used all different types of wing sauces and haven’t been letdown yet. Also because we are on a tight budget I make my own dry ranch dip at home and use it instead it’s way cheaper and taste the same

This is in my crockpot now! I also replaced 2 the boneless skinless breasts with a couple of chicken leg quarters. Otherwise breast meat tends to be rather blah from all day slow cooking. Since we like spicy, I used a whole 26 oz bottle of Franks Red Hot sauce (not wing) and only 1/2 pkg ranch dressing mix. About 4. 1/2- 5 lbs of bird total. Too easy. If my sauce ratio fails, I’ll let ya know. But I can drink Frank’s Red Hot, I adore it. Thanks for sharing!

i made my own ranch mix – that packet stuff is scary – mix was easy to make and great to have on hand., i used 8oz wing sauce(Archie Moore’s and Wing Time-Medium) plus 4oz low sodium chicken broth. the Wing Time sauce is much lower in sodium than other brands on the shelf, though a bit higher in calories than others(bear in mind if you use this brand and are counting PP on WW.)

i shredded the chicken at the 6th hour of cooking on low. we sat down to dinner approx 30min after that. plenty of liquid, not too salty, just the right amount of buffalo tang.

I made this for the first time today. Delicious! My husband just started WW, and he loved it, too. I didn’t thaw the chicken, and it turned out great. We drizzled Opa Litehouse blue cheese made out of Greek yogurt. Excellent. We love Emily Bites in this house. Thank you for making the Weight Watchers plan so much easier!

I made this for a tailgate party this past weekend. I more than doubled it. I have a large crockpot and it was full to the top. It was a huge hit! Nobody could believe it was only 3 points and everybody….including the non-dieters wanted the recipe! I also made some 1 point coleslaw to go with it. For 4 points I had a great meal and didn’t feel deprived at all! Thanks for this great recipe!

Thanks for the recipe! Made it for a superbowl party and everyone liked it It was soo easy and I used half the ranch packet just like some comments mentioned. I love how low fat it is and I plan to make this regularly in the future.

This is one of my all time favorite Emily Bites recipes! My favorite thing to do is put the 1/2 cup chicken with shredded lettuce and 2 tbsp of Lite Blue Cheese Dressing for a Buffalo Chicken Salad. For 5 pp (not counting the lettuce) it’s so filling and yummy!

I made this with Frank’s RedHot Original only because I had it at home. I loved it, but the rest of my family found it too spicy. I served it on slider buns with fresh made cole slaw. Yummy! I know you have said that Wing Sauce is milder, but other comments made it seem like if you add the butter, which I did, it is the same spice level as the Original. What do you think? Is it milder, or should I try another brand?

Emily Bites replied: — February 5th, 2015 @ 2:15 pm

You can try a different brand and see if that makes it milder. For people who want it less spicy I would usually just recommend that they mix in some blue cheese dressing (or ranch I suppose) to their serving – that should cut the spice and also be delicious